Driving is sometimes not something everyone wants to do and when they do it they’re not all there all the time. Sometimes a good drive can be a fun time and driving through the streets feels like a powerful and emotive experience.

But how often does this really happen to you? Most of the time the humdrum of driving is the boring part of being stuck in traffic and controlling this barrelling car becomes a nuisance. Luckily there has been a rise in self driving cars.

New Car

Recently there’s been a really cool new car called the Etos. It is a concept car made from Swiss automaker Rinspeed. It wants to bring back the enjoyment of driving. The car is a sort of hybrid between switching from self driving and driving manually.

Here’s the kicker though, they’ve added a drone on the back of the car and a landing zone for it. The idea is get drivers enjoying the leisure of travel and that’s why they added a drone that can be controlled while the car is self driving. This is definitely a novel concept that is going to get a lot of people talking.

The Concept

Frank M Rinderknecht the owner of the idea, unveiled the idea outside of his alpine home this sports car. He states that “The digital world will provide the major and above all the disruptive innovations in automotive engineering. That is why nowadays all major car manufacturers and suppliers are present at the CES Consumer Electronics Show.”

The swiss maker of this car likes to approach self driving cars with the idea of the human passengers in mind.

After all humans are still going to be passengers in these new vehicles of the future taking up space and looking for things to do inside the car. As the self driving movement flourishes and begins to enter the mainstream, more outlandish ideas like this one will become commonplace.

Rinderknecht remarks “This process will likely lead to an adaptive, learning and intuitive control software. But it will be a long rocky road.” He is talking about the idea behind the new emerging market and the technologies that will come with this disruption.

An interesting new technical advancement in the Etos is the folding steering wheel that can come in and out when not driving the car. It instantly will disappear back into the dashboard when not in use. This creates a lot of space for the driver.

If you notice the steering wheel is a major space holder in most modern cars. This is just one of the many ideas for the new interior of self driving cars. The Mercedes-Benz concept has a sort of lounge type area that is covered with tinted windows.

This shows how many varying ideas they can have. In the car is also two 21.5-inch Ultra HD monitors that are adjustable and able to watch high definition television or any other sort of media.

The car’s futuristic look is reminiscent of the BMW i8. It’s got the fast capabilities and comes with a cool glass roof that helps house its drone landing zone in the back. The glass is exceptionally thin on the back and is the same one used in smartphones. The base of the car also comes with carbon fiber and will be on the forefront of futuristic cars.

The Hennessey Venom GT is one insane car. The car has been reported to peak at 270 mph. There have been some disputed claims around this speed, as official speeds must have the car going in both directions. This is to make up for wind resistance and the two speeds are then combined and averaged out. Also since the car is not technically a production car because it is handmade it hasn’t made itself into any world records. It hasn’t been inducted into the Guinness book of world records yet because of this fact. Nonetheless, the car is incredibly fast and probably one of the fastest cars there is. Though, just how fast is it?

Extreme Speed

The current iteration of this car has 1,244 horsepower. If this wasn’t enough the company is planning on upping this speed even more in subsequent models. The Texas automaker has recently announced that the Venom GT has 1,451 horsepower that is a lot over the older model of the Venom GT. It also runs on E85 Flex Fuel. This fuel allows its twin-turbo 7.0-liter engine to go up from 19 psi to 26 psi.

John Hennessey, creator and owner of the company has said there will only be a few more Venom GT’s released next year in 2016 before they begin creating the next car titled the Venom F5.

Venom Successor

At a recent SEMA show in Las Vegas, a couple reports caught up with founder John Hennessey and asked him some of thoughts on the future of the car. He told them about his idea of considering a vehicle that was completely electric for the Venom GT. He said this could be real very soon. He wants to wait for batteries to become lighter so that they can pack more of a punch in terms of energy and power. He reckons that he could have around 1,000 horsepower in a completely electric car.

On the timeframe he stated that “But I don’t think that’s far away.” As he waits for the technology to become feasible to build his cars, he’s in the process of the next Venom F5. Hennessey thinks that the new car could be within the range of 290 mph, a bold claim he thinks he can achieve. If the technology comes to be he may also create the electric vehicle alongside the new Venom F5.

He has revealed that the new car will be more aerodynamic than previous models and have a weight under 2,866 pounds. As it needs to be faster that will require more power. The 7.0-liter twin-turbo V8’s will need to produce a lot of horsepower to break this speed.

If anyone or any company can make a car hit this speed it would definitely be the Texas Hennessey Company. They know how to make fast cars and have delivered time and time again with not only extremely fast paced and powerful cars, but paired with a dazzling cool look and aesthetic to the car.

Overview of the Year

2016 is looking like another exciting year for the auto industry. Sales are expected to be staying at a good level with gas prices and interests down, barring any sort of natural or political disasters it’s going to be a great year for autos. There’s a whole group of newly released automobiles with some newly redesigned models as well. There’s over a couple dozen new models being launched this year, but we’re focusing on a select few noteworthy cars.

These selected cars are some of the most luxurious and innovative cars. Each has been designed to fit a certain aesthetic the company is trying to portray and bring customers back to buying some newer models.

A new car they’re bringing back is the Acura NSX after being gone for eleven years. It has reinvented itself as a gas and electric hybrid car that isn’t going to sacrifice its high performance and sleek aesthetic. Cadillac has released a new model called the Cadillac CT6, which comes equipped with turbo-fours and V6 engines again. There were a few years that their flagship models were equipped with a V8. They also released new versions of their ATS-V and sedan versions as well. Mercedes-Benz has redone its AMG GT sports coupe and changed up a design on the gull-wing doors. Let’s have an in depth look at some of these major models for the New Year.

Acura NSX

The new Acura is back again and it comes with a twin-turbocharged 3.5 liter V6 engine and alongside it is a motor electric Hybrid driving system. Along with this system is a nine speed dual-clutch manual transmission. It also comes equipped with a Sport Hybrid All-Wheel-Drive system. There’s also newly made carbon-ceramic brakes that completely revitalize breaking capabilities and drivers can rest assured that this car can break on a dime. Expect to be put back around mid $100,00’s if purchasing one of these new vehicles.

Cadillac CT6

Cadillac, the luxury carmaker has debuted its newest full size car and announced this flagship sedan as the CT6. It’s the biggest of their new line of cars and was made to take on directly their competitors like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. It has a been equipped with a 2.0-liter turbo supercharged four cylinder or 3.6-liter V6, or their new 3.0-liter twin turbocharged V6 which should be able to generate up to 400 horsepower. Each car also comes with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Some new technological upgrades include a 360-degree view around the car and can record on the go, also Cadillac owners can also expect the typical heated and cooled seats with a new Bose audio system.

Mercedes-Benz AMG GT

Last and certainly not least is Mercedes’ most anticipated new model. The AMG GT has a new overhauled design and is even sleeker. It’s gotten rid of its vertical opening doors this time and switched it for regular ones. It comes equipped with a 4.0 liter 456 horsepower V8 as a base engine. Mercedes claims that it can go from 0 to 60mph in 3.7 seconds and has a seven-speed automated manual transmission. Its price range is in the six-figure range and comes equipped with everything that warrants that price tag.

Self-driving cars might seem like a thing of the future, but they have actually become a reality. Unfortunately, self-driving cars are not even close to becoming widely available, despite all efforts by the company Google. The company made mention of self-driving vehicles in 2014 and they wanted to issue them to the public in 2015. Now the company is concerned by the delay, which comes from the Department of Motor Vehicles. They were supposed to write a precedent-setting rule by last January, however, they have struggled all year long to implement a rule for self-driving cars.

A look at Google’s self-driving car

Google created a prototype of a self-driving car, which is a bubble-shaped, two-seater. The company has only been able to test the vehicles in limited locations. Top speed for the self-driving vehicle is only 25 mph, and it cannot withstand snow or fog. California’s DMV has given ten different companies permission to test Google’s 73 cars. In order to be tested, a trained test driver must sit behind the wheel, however Google has an ultimate goal of removing the wheel and pedals for the general public. In doing this, it would actually be safer to the consumer because it takes all control away from the person, and not expect them to have to snap to attention in the case of an emergency. Chris Urmson is the project leader behind the self-driving car. He doesn’t want to see any further delays in releasing the car to the public, especially because his son would not need a driver’s license to operate a self-driving vehicle. Google states that the car would drive itself, even without anyone in the vehicle.

California DMV taking their time with safety issues

It has been about a year of discussion regarding the legal use of self-driving vehicles. The DMV is really looking to come up with a set of clear, objective safety standards for these types of cars. They need help from Google and other traditional automakers in order to set this objective. There are no current federal regulations on self-driving cars, and California wants to do everything they can to ensure safety. Officials have gained information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Their position on self-driving vehicles, is that states should only authorize the use of self-driving vehicles with a licensed driver. The pressure is really on for California to develop new regulations for self-driving vehicles, and Google is hoping there will be some kind of progress by year’s end.

Self-driving Google cars, moving forward

Regulators have stated that they don’t want them blame placed on them for stalling the arrival of the infamous self-driving vehicle. These cars can see farther, react faster, and will not text, speed, or fall asleep at the “wheel”. You can get more information about Google’s self-driving car by visiting their website. They have posted videos of the self-driving car in action. We will have to wait and see if 2016 will become the year that California comes to a regulation on self-driving cars.